In the case of Armes v Nottinghamshire County Council[2016] EWHC 2864 (QB) Males J held that the right of a claimant to name the people who abused her prevailed over the rights of the perpetrators and others to private and family life. Read the rest of this entry »

An Italian investigative journalist has recently claimed to have ‘unmasked’ the pseudonymous Elena Ferrante, the bestselling Italian author of the ‘Neapolitan quartet’ of novels. Ferrante has consistently guarded her real identity and has been writing under the pseudonym since 1992. This raises interesting questions in connection with privacy rights and whether it could be considered a breach of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights to reveal the name of an individual who otherwise wished to be anonymous. Read the rest of this entry »

The new campaign to ‘Reclaim the Internet‘, to ‘take a stand against online abuse’ was launched yesterday – and it could be a really important campaign. The scale and nature of abuse online is appalling – and it is good to see that the campaign does not focus on just one kind of abuse, instead talking about ‘misogyny, sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia’ and more. Read the rest of this entry »

When is it right to keep the names of parties to litigation a secret? That was the difficult question the Supreme Court had to grapple with in the case of R(C) v. Secretary of State for Justice ([2016] UKSC 2). The decision to allow a double-murderer to remain anonymous led to outraged headlines in the tabloids. Yet the Court reached the unanimous conclusion that this was the right approach. Why? Read the rest of this entry »

In the case of BBC v Roden ([2015] UKEAT 0385_14_1205) Simler J sitting as the Employment Appeal Tribunal overturned a remarkable anonymity order which had been made at the conclusion of Employment Tribunal proceedings to protect the reputation of a claimant who had misled his employers and reaffirmed the importance of open justice. Read the rest of this entry »

In the case of A healthcare NHS Trust v P & Q ([2015] EWCOP 15) the Court of Protection has clarified the position on revealing the identity of an incapacitated adult where reporting restrictions apply. Read the rest of this entry »

The Ched Evans rape case has polarised opinion, so it’s time for some straight talking. The woman in question is entitled to remain anonymous under the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 1992. The legislation makes it quite clear that the victim in a case of rape is entitled to anonymity in the press. Read the rest of this entry »